While we do not have written records from the Paleolithic Era, the vast majority of our information has been gleaned from archaeological and ethnographic comparisons to other hunter and gatherer cultures that exist more contemporaneously, to gain a bit of insight as to how these individuals lived. In the Paleolithic era, also known as the "Old Stone Age," which lasted until approximately 12,000 BC, human beings (homo sapiens) were effectively evolved to more or less how we appear now. Our brains were nearly the size of modern humans, and we were used to standing on two feet, which freed our hands to work with as tools (and to create tools of our own). We also started to develop a rudimentary language of grunts and cries, creating patterns that established the now-familiar forms of language we enjoy.
Human society was nomadic in the Paleolithic Era; we often moved from place to place, often to find more food sources; food was scarce back then, necessitating the nomadic movements of small groups of humans. Humans often had a very short life expectancy at that time, due to the anticipated deaths by hunger, injury or disease.
One of the most important roles for men in the Paleolithic tribes of old was their building of tools. Bones and stones were crafted into axes, spears, bows and arrows with which to hunt. Smaller tools were also created to allow for oysters and the like to be opened with finesse. The most interesting advancement in the Paleolithic Era is the advent of tool specialization; specific tools started to become specifically crafted for particular purposes. Many more tool types were created in this era than in previous era, with knives, drills and needles starting to crop up around this time. Perishable tools also started to become prevalent, as threads were used to tie together hides and plants with needles, or string together beads to make necklaces. They likely made these materials out of vegetable fibers or other similar materials. Clothing and shelter also became more advanced in this era due to the use of tools; cloth and leather were used to construct these items.
The roles of women in the Paleolithic Era were mostly domestic; they were meant to birth and take care of children, as well as gather food and supplies. They had very much a submissive role in Paleolithic society, as the men did most of the work. Despite a lesser position, however, they were almost more important than the men of this time, as their role was to care for the children, and carry on life in the tribe. In addition to that, they were typically more successful at finding food than the men; gathering berries, nuts and vegetables was much easier to do, and the chances were higher that they would be able to find food. Women were seen to typically provide eighty percent of the food consumed by the tribe, while the result of the men's gathering would make up the remaining twenty percent.
While many men built tools for hunting, many women also built tools of their own; often, they would use planks of wood to dig up roots for plants and vegetables. Women, in their roles as the gatherers of Paleolithic society, undoubtedly invented pottery making and weaving; also, other tools for transporting children from place to place, such as woven slings, are also attributed to these women.
The role of children was somewhat limited in Paleolithic tribes; their role was effectively to stay alive, as they were meant to be the continuation of the tribe. Both men and women would protect the children by finding it food and defending it from predators. Children, obviously, had the least amount of agency and power within the clan, as age-based power meant they were lowest on the totem pole. Children were not nearly as helpful in hunting and gathering for the clan, instead being treated as commodities to be protected.
As children grew up, they would start to assume the roles given to each gender in Paleolithic society. If they were young men, they would begin to hunt along with their fathers and the other men in the group; young girls would remain at camp with the other women to gather and make tools and shelter. It was the primary responsibility of the adults of their respective gender to teach the children what they needed to know to survive. Children were told what plants were safe and which were unsafe, as well as the history of their family. Toolmaking and the use of tools was also taught to them. The children's role in Paleolithic tribes was primarily to be the eventual leaders of the next generation; their active role in contributing to the tribe was limited.
Given the harsh conditions of the Paleolithic Era, many different survival tactics had to be performed in order to survive. First and foremost, the aforementioned nomadic nature of Paleolithic tribes allowed early humans to continue to find new food sources, as well as avoid retaliatory animals and rival tribes. However, much of their survival tactics also revolved around the building of tools and the mastery of fire. Fire was used to cook food, keep them warm, and provide light during the night. When an animal was killed, they would use every part of it to make sure none of it went to waste - the Paleolithic humans were extremely efficient with whatever they gathered. The meat would be eaten, the bones would be shaped into weapons or tools. In the event that they could not find a cave for shelter, bones and animal skins would sometimes be used to create rudimentary huts.
These conditions early tribes in the Paleolithic Age experienced were slightly improved with the transition into the Neolithic Age. In the Neolithic era, in particular, women started to enjoy equality with men in leadership and representation within the tribe - this was likely due to their increased contributions to the economy and resources of the group. In the Neolithic Era, mankind finally started to domesticate animals and plants, switching from a hunter-gatherer society to one more focused on agriculture. With plants, they could set up a garden and have a reliable, consistent and quantifiable supply of food; the same went for meat and dairy products with the domestication of animals. Women, in particular, selected land for cultivation of crops, while the men continued to domesticate animals and still did the occasional foraging, as well as most of the agricultural work.
With this focus on agriculture, tribes became much less nomadic, and as a result much more stable and more populous. Women started to have a bit less agency with this development, as more time was spent in pregnancy and dealing with the stresses and time consuming nature of childcare. Men took over many of the tasks women would normally perform, and they would also engage in cattle herding and raising as opposed to going out to hunt exclusively. The Neolithic Age saw the transition of humankind from a nomadic band of hunter-gatherers to a much more organized, structured society with an agricultural basis. This also saw life become more conflict-driven between other tribes, as they had stationary territory and resources to protect. While this transition made life for mankind much more manageable, it made it more complicated as well.
Works Cited
Adovasio, J.M., Soffer, O., and Jake Page. The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Roles of Women in Prehistory. HarperCollins, 2008.
Frayer, David W. "Body Size, Weapon Use, and Natural Selection in the European Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic." American Anthropologist 83.1: 57-73 (March 1981).
Hublin, Jean-Jacques and Michael P. Richards. The Evolution of Hominin Diets: Integrating Approaches to the Study of Palaeolithic Subsistence. Springer, 2009. Print.
